Scotland Yard will not further investigate phone tapping

Under fire: Scotland Yard has been criticised for not alerting victims of the phone-tapping scandal

The Metropolitan Police will not conduct a new investigation into claims thousands of public figures had their phones hacked by the News of the World, Scotland Yard said.

Assistant Commissioner John Yates said the police had seen no additional evidence since its last investigation.

Mr Yates also said detectives had found no evidence that former deputy prime minister John Prescott's phone was tapped.

But he said police would now inform any potential victims that their phone may have been hacked where there was any suspicion.

He said: "No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required.

"However, I do recognise the very real concerns, expressed today by a number of people, who believe that their privacy may have been intruded upon.

"I therefore need to ensure that we have been diligent, reasonable and sensible, and taken all proper steps to ensure that where we have evidence that people have been the subject of any form of phone tapping, or that there is any suspicion that they might have been, that they have been informed."

The news came after the Assistant Commissioner had been called on to "establish the facts" about claims that the News of the World hacked into mobile phones.

Sir Paul Stephenson had said earlier: "I have asked him to establish the facts of this case and look into the detail.

"We have got a track record of doing exactly what we are supposed to do. If we need to investigate, we will investigate. We will do the right thing and do what we have to do to investigate crime wherever it exists."

Sir Paul had made his comments as the force faced questions over claims that police did not alert a number of politicians and celebrities whose phones were allegedly targeted by reporters.

The original investigation into the News of the World bugging scandal was carried out by anti-terrorist police because of the security implications around claims that Royal phones had been bugged.

There is much secrecy surrounding the Yard's Counter Terrorism Command known as SO15 and few details of the inquiry emerged. However, it was well known at the time that detectives were examining a large number of telephone numbers and whether they had been subject to interception.

There were reports that at least one Cabinet minister as well as a number of celebrities were the target of illegal phone tapping. Today former Cabinet member John Prescott said he would be contacting the police to ask if his phone had been tapped, why was he not informed and why was no action taken.

"I had no evidence of this, though frankly a lot of the stories in the paper were coming from information that was highly private," he said. "It's quite staggering really."

The latest revelations are linked to the jailing of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman in 2007. He was sentenced to four months for plotting to intercept voicemail messages left for three royal aides.

The 49-year-old tapped into several hundred messages but was found out when Prince William became suspicious over an article about a knee injury.

Goodman was working with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to the same charge, after hacking the phones of Elle MacPherson, PR agent Max Clifford, MP Simon Hughes and football agent Sky Andrew.

Andy Coulson later resigned as editor of the News of the World, saying he took responsibility for the scandal.

Mr Clifford said the claims raised "lots of serious questions".

He told the BBC: "If these allegations prove to be true, then it's something that an awful lot of people are going to very unhappy about." He also asked: "Why has this just come out? According to the Guardian, it's come from police sources.

"If the police had this information, why didn't they act on it? There are lots of questions that need to be answered, serious questions."

Today the Crown Prosecution Service, which must decide that there is a realistic prospect of conviction before bringing charges, said sufficient evidence had been presented to authorise court action in the cases of both Goodman and Mulcaire.

A spokeswoman said investigations would now be conducted to see whether files on any other individuals had been passed to the CPS by the Met, but that, at this stage, no such cases had been identified.

Police sources say that officers contacted as many people as they could who were proved to be the subject of phone tapping. One of the main obstacles to further prosecutions was that people did not want to see cases pursued through the courts.

In a statement the Yard said: "The MPS carried out an investigation into the alleged unlawful interception of telephone calls. Officers liaised closely with the Crown Prosecution Service. Two people were charged and subsequently convicted and jailed. We are not prepared to comment further."